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The sappers hacked holes through the side of the house; by
squads the men dived in. Jerry stayed out with the rest of Company
B, his eye again glued to Lieutenant Grant.
Through the houses, and behind walls and around corners, the
First Brigade slowly traveled on. The houses stood more and more
closely, so that the burrowers darted safely across the narrow
spaces. The enemy atop was helpless to stop them—and had no
time to attend to them anyway. Jerry soon overtook Lieutenant
Grant, who had halted at one side and was gazing before from the
angle of a garden wall.
He saw Jerry at his elbow.
“You’re here, are you, young bodyguard?”
“Yes, sir.”
“That’s all right. I can use you. Supposing some of us mounted a
light gun in the belfry of that church yonder. We ought to do
execution. What do you think?”
“Yes, sir. That would be a fine place,” Jerry agreed.
The church was located one hundred yards toward the city wall
and off at the south side of the road. It had a flat roof and a belfry;
but the Mexican sharpshooters favored the houses that commanded
the road and had let the church alone.
Lieutenant Grant acted at once.
“Very well, we’ll try it if we can get the gun. You run back, sir, to the
howitzer battery, and ask for a gun and gun crew. Tell them I’ll be
responsible for the report to General Worth.”
Jerry ran, ducking, and wondering whether he would have to cross
that fearful road up which iron and lead were streaming from the San
Cosme gate battery. He was lucky; met, first, a lieutenant of
Voltigeurs—
“Here! Where you going, bub?”
“I want a howitzer, sir. I’m under orders from Lieutenant Grant, of
the Fourth.”
“You are? What’s the trouble?”
“He’s going to put it in the belfry of that church, sir. Then we’ll be
above the roofs and the gate.”
The lieutenant took a look. He was as smart as a whip.
“By thunder, a good idea! I’ll get the howitzer. You wait here.”
“And a squad to serve it, sir,” Jerry anxiously called after.
“Oh, we’ll serve it, you bet!”
The lieutenant returned at full speed with the gun dismantled and
a squad carrying the pieces. Lieutenant Grant’s face lighted as he
saw them hustling in to him.
“Now for it, then! You’re Lieutenant——?”
“Lieutenant Fry, of the Voltigeurs.”
“I’m Grant, of the Fourth Infantry. Shall you take command, or I,
sir?”
“You, of course, lieutenant.”
“Follow me with the gun, men.”
They all made a wide detour to the south to avoid bullets. The
ground was a marshy meadowland, knee-deep with ooze, and cut by
the usual ditches, some of them breast deep. But nobody stopped
for these. When they arrived at the church they were a slimy party.
The rear door was locked. Lieutenant Grant rapped with the hilt of
his sword. A priest opened, for barely a crack.
“You speak Spanish?” the lieutenant asked of Jerry.
“Yes, sir.”
“Good! Tell the father that we wish to get inside.”
“He says that he’s sorry, but it’s impossible at this hour,” Jerry
interpreted after the priest’s answer.
“Tell him that nothing is impossible to Americans. Tell him we
regret to trouble him and we do not wish to damage property
needlessly, but if he doesn’t open the door we’ll break it down and he
may find himself a prisoner.”
The priest opened and stood aside. He did not look especially
friendly as they trooped by him. Up into the belfry they climbed, led
still by Lieutenant Grant. The men had hard work to hoist the pieces
of the howitzer up the ladder, but they did it. They put the barrel upon
the carriage and the carriage upon the wheels, and proceeded to
pass up the powder cartridges and shells.
When the gun had been assembled and the gun squad was
prepared, the belfry had little spare space in it.
The gun was loaded, pointed—Lieutenant Grant himself squinted
over the barrel. He stood back.
“Give it to ’em!” he barked. “Fire!”
“Bang!” The lock string had been jerked. The shell flew true;
exploded in the very midst of the gateway battery.
It created a little panic. The Mexicans seemed to think that it had
dropped from the sky. The belfry squad cheered and reloaded.
“Bang!”
The lieutenant occasionally changed to the roof-tops and sprinkled
them with canister. He was enjoying himself immensely. So was
Lieutenant Fry. Jerry likewise was glad that he had come. Below the
belfry the whole battlefield was outspread. The church was almost
directly south of the breastworks that had been taken and left again.
The gateway—arched over between towers, was two hundred and
fifty yards at the rear of the breastworks. It had mounted a heavy gun
and a howitzer, emplaced behind sandbags and stone abutments
and scoured the road with shell and canister and grape. The square
towers and the parapets of the wall on either side of the gate were
volleying with musketry; the roofs of the houses along the road
gushed smoke. The figures of the Mexican defenders, lying flat or
crouching, or stealing from point to point, could be plainly seen
amidst smoke spume.
Up the street there were the Voltigeurs, supporting the howitzers
and springing from arch to arch. Duncan’s battery, posted farther
back but gradually coming nearer, was responding hotly to the
Mexican battery. In the yards of the houses the skirmishers of the
Fourth, and of the Second and Third Artillery, darted hither thither,
picking off the Mexican sharpshooters before them; every now and
then the burrowing squads burst out in a new spot.
Across the street the Clarke brigade was doing the same work. A
second howitzer had been mounted upon a high roof over there, in
rivalry with Lieutenant Grant’s howitzer. It, too, was dropping shells
into the enemy.
And yonder, a mile and a half or two miles in the southeast at the
Belen gate, the other battle was being waged, where the General
Quitman column appeared to have gained a foothold.
The sun was touching the western horizon. The ammunition for
the little howitzer was almost spent. But a great cheer arose from
below. They gazed quickly. Drawn by galloping horses, the gunners
astride and lashing, or sitting upon the caisson, a six-pounder from
Duncan’s battery was charging down the road for the abandoned
breastworks.
The city gate spouted flame and smoke afresh. Every Mexican
musket, as seemed, was brought to bear upon the bounding,
thundering gun. Would the gun make it—would it—would it? The two
lead horses were fairly lifted from their feet by the canister; the other
two horses dragged them, a mass of mangled flesh. The gunners
astride had been hurled from their seats; the caisson showed gaps,
as the gunners sitting upon it wilted. Down sprawled the horse of the
young officer who commanded. He staggered to his feet and ran on.
An instant more and the gun was safely within the shelter of the
battery parapet—was being unlimbered and turned muzzle to muzzle
with the gateway guns.
Of the nine artillerists, five were out of action.
“That,” said Lieutenant Grant, breathing fast, “is Lieutenant Harry
Hunt, of the Second. I never saw a braver deed.”
The roofs of the houses had been cleared well-nigh to the city
wall. Lieutenant Hunt’s gun opened point blank upon the gateway
battery. And listen! See! There was another great cheer—suddenly
the roofs right against the wall on either side of the gate had
upheaved, a torrent of blue caps and blue jackets spurted out like
bursts of water, and broke white with a terrific fire into the gateway
battery and even over the wall itself.
The battery was silenced in a moment as the gunners fell or
frantically scuttled back through the arched passage. Lieutenant
Hunt’s gun again belched grape. And here came the stormers, out
from among the houses and down the road, yelling, firing, pouring
through between the gate towers.
“The gate’s taken, and so is the city,” Lieutenant Grant rapped.
“Come on, Fry. We’d better join our commands. Disassemble the
piece, men, and report with it to Lieutenant Reno.”
He and Lieutenant Fry and Jerry tumbled below; ran for the road.
The Fourth Infantry was well inside the gate; the men, breathless,
laughing, peering, asking what next. Save for a few shots the place
was singularly silent. General Worth arrived in haste.
“What regiment is this?”
“Fourth Infantry, sir.”
“God bless the Fourth Infantry. Where’s Major Lee? Hold your
position, major; you will be supported.”
“B’gorry, first in, an’ here we stay,” cried old Sergeant Mulligan.
“Hooray for the Fourth!”
The enemy was rallying. His bugles pealed, his officers were
shouting and urging, a column boiled into the street before. As quick
as thought the two guns of the gateway battery had been reversed
—“Clear the way, there!”—and a shower of grape scattered the
column.
The bugles sounded again, with the Mexican signal for recall.
The other regiments thronged in: the Second Artillery, the Sixth
Infantry, the Eighth (with Hannibal rolling his drum and cheering
lustily), the Third Artillery, the Fifth Infantry, the Voltigeurs; all the
Worth foot. Then, after the troops had been assigned to position,
Captain Huger, of the ordnance, and two heavy guns, a twenty-four-
pounder and a ten-inch mortar came on; were planted in the
gateway, General Worth overseeing.
Save for the tolling of bells, the distant cries of frightened people,
and the muffled notes of Mexican drums and bugles, the city was
quiet. Now what?
“Get your range by the map, captain,” spoke General Worth to
Captain Huger. “Then throw a few shell in the direction of the plaza
and capital buildings. I don’t particularly care where they land, as
long as they notify the authorities that we are here and have the city
at our mercy.”
“Cut your fuses for sixteen hundred yards,” Captain Huger
ordered. “With shell, load!”
“Number One, ready! Fire!”
“Boom!” The twenty-four-pounder had spoken. “Crash!”
“Number Two, ready! Fire!”
“Boom-m!” And—“Crash!”
That was the big mortar bomb. Darkness had gathered. The
flames from the two guns redly illuminated the gateway littered with
spoil—shone upon the bodies of the Mexican gunners who had
fallen, rammers in hands; the explosions of the shells lighted the
roofs and towers in the center of the city, almost a mile eastward.
The distant cries of alarm echoed anew. Three shells were thrown
from the twenty-four-pounder, five from the mortar.
“That will do,” General Worth bade.
An aide from General Scott raced in.
“General Worth! The general commanding sends his compliments,
and the information that General Quitman is in possession of the
Belen gateway. You are directed to entrench yourself here before the
San Cosme gate, and await further orders in preparation for a final
assault in the morning, if necessary.”
General Worth smiled.
“My compliments to General Scott. As you see, we have entered
the city and have a clear road to the plaza. My instructions were to
penetrate as far as the Alameda; but owing to the darkness we will
establish ourselves where we are, and march on by daylight.”
The aide delayed a moment.
“General Quitman forced the Belen gate shortly after one o’clock,
general,” he said. “But he has been held fast ever since, unable to
advance by reason of batteries opposing him. My congratulations to
you, sir.”
“He was simply to threaten the gate, I understood.”
“I had the honor of bearing him those very instructions,” laughed
the aide; “with the commander-in-chief’s compliments. But before I
had delivered the message he snapped: ‘Tell General Scott I have
no time to listen to compliments,’ and on he went.”
“Well, sir,” General Worth responded, “you will please inform
Major-General Scott that there is nothing to obstruct my command in
a forward movement to the plaza at daybreak.”
The Colonel Riley brigade, of the Fourth Artillery, Second and
Seventh Infantry, and Taylor’s battery, from the Second Division,
marched in. This night the Fourth Infantry was quartered in a large
house on the main street from the gateway. The men reveled in the
luxury of soft beds, thick carpets, and rich food. They searched the
rooms for money but found none; and they did nothing worse than
pillage a pantry of sweet preserves.
Major Lee and invited officers fell heirs to a supper waiting for one
of the Mexican generals.
Jerry met Pompey wandering about, his black face smeared.
“Am dis one ob the Halls ob Montyzumy?” Pompey asked.
“I don’t think so, Pompey. But we’ll be there in the morning.”
“Not dis chile. No, suh! You-all can have the rest ob dose Halls; I
gwine to stay hyar as long as dar’s any platters to lick.”
XXIV
IN THE HALLS OF MONTEZUMA
At reveille it was reported that shortly after midnight the mayor and
city council had surrendered the city to General Worth. They said
that Santa Anna had withdrawn his army into the country. General
Worth forwarded the delegates to General Scott at Tacubaya, and he
had just been directed to march his troops to the Alameda. The
Quitman column was to occupy the plaza and raise the flag.
This seemed hard, but General Quitman had been first to seize a
gate, and had lost heavily. Besides, with his Mohawks and Marines
he had guarded the rear, at San Augustine, through a long period,
while other troops were winning honors.
The First Division, the Voltigeurs and the Riley brigade were halted
in column of companies in the green square or Alameda. Now all the
way on to the plaza, three blocks, the broad street was crowded with
the Mexican citizens, jostling along the walks and thronging the
balconies. The front of many of the buildings flew the neutral flags of
England, France, Spain, Portugal, Italy.
At seven o’clock music was heard and cheering. The Quitman
column appeared in sight: the handsome General Quitman and bluff
General Twiggs, and staffs, with escort of cavalry, at its head; then in
serried ranks the Rifles, with the regimental flags of the First Artillery,
the Third Infantry, the New Yorkers, the Marines, and the Ninth
Infantry following at the fore of their commands. Sections of the
Drum and Steptoe batteries rumbled behind.
The drums of the Worth regiments rolled, the men cheered
gallantly. With measured tread the Quitman column passed on, its
bands playing “Hail, Columbia!,” “Washington’s March,” and “Yankee
Doodle.” Presently there was a still louder burst of cheers, and the
united strains of the “Star Spangled Banner.” From the flag pole of
the national palace the Stars and Stripes had broken out; raised, as
was afterward learned, by Captain Roberts of the Rifles. He had
been foremost in the Quitman storming columns up Chapultepec hill.
Lieutenant Beauregard, of the engineers, bandaged from a wound,
dashed from the plaza, evidently bearing dispatches. About eight
o’clock the clatter of hoofs sounded. The Dragoons were coming.
Then—
“Huzzah! Huzzah! Huzzah! Huzzah for Old Fuss and Feathers!”
General Scott, plumed and girted and gloved, in full uniform
complete, towered at the front. Led by Colonel Harney and Major
Sumner, the dragoons, their mounted band in the advance, at a carry
sabers, filled the street from curb to curb. They, too, were spick and
span.
“Hail to the Chief!” That was the tune being played. The general
and escort swept by at a rapid trot, while the bands and the field
music of the Worth column likewise played “Hail to the Chief.” The
Mexican spectators forgot themselves, and cheered and clapped. No
one could deny that the chief and his cavalry made a splendid sight.
“Column—forward—quick time—march!”
The Worth men might move in at last. The street was so blocked
that the end files of the companies were obliged to brush the people
from the way. In the plaza the Second Dragoons band was playing
“Yankee Doodle.” The plaza also was crowded. There seemed to be
hundreds of blanketed, dirty beggars under foot. The dragoons rode
right and left, clearing the plaza with the flats of their sabers, but
careful to harm nobody.
“Column, halt!”
Just as General Worth was about to give orders a volley burst
from the top of a building; the balls pelted in, aimed at him and his
staff; but they passed over. Colonel Garland clapped his hand to his
side, and in Company B Lieutenant Sidney Smith sank limply.
As if the volley had been a signal other shots sounded; paving
stones rained down. It looked like a trap. Here were five thousand
Americans, almost the whole army, in the plaza and surrounded by
buildings and two hundred thousand people.
The orders were quick. In an instant Duncan’s battery and the
Reno howitzers galloped to the plaza corners; Steptoe’s and Drum’s
and Taylor’s guns were being unlimbered. Aides from General Scott
were spurring hither thither; skirmish squads were being told off, and
ordered to search the streets and buildings. The dragoons galloped.
The howitzers battered the building from which the first volley had
issued. Now all around the plaza there echoed the clatter of hoofs,
the thud of running feet, and the ringing reports of musket and rifle.
A number of leading Mexican citizens apologized to General
Worth and General Scott, and offered help to put down the
insurrection. The trouble-makers were two thousand convicts who
had been set free by Santa Anna.
The firing in the streets continued throughout the day, while the
reserves waited under arms. At night things had quieted somewhat.
The First Division bivouacked in the Alameda. After strong outposts
had been placed the men might talk again. What a two days,
September 13 and 14, that had been! And this was the end of the
campaign in the Halls of Montezuma.
The Riley men, quartered with the First, could tell the news from
the Quitman column. They had been at Chapultepec, and upon the
road to the Belen gate. The casualties were heavy. Major Loring, of
the Rifles, had lost an arm. The Drum battery had been cut to pieces
at the gate—Captain Drum and First Lieutenant Benjamin killed.
Lieutenant-Colonel Baxter, commanding the New Yorkers, was
dying; Major Gladden, commanding the Palmettos, was wounded.
General Shields’ wounded arm was in bad shape. General Pillow
would recover; was in the hospital at Chapultepec. The South
Carolinans were holding the Belen gate; the Second Pennsylvanians
were garrisoning the fort inside.
Colonel Garland, it was said, would get well; but Lieutenant Smith
was dead.
Jerry looked at his own mess. Brave Scotty MacPheel was gone;
so was Henry Brewer—he had been shot down yesterday. Corporal
Finerty bore an honorable wound; Fifer O’Toole’s head was
bandaged—a musket ball had scraped it.
In taking Chapultepec and the city ten officers and one hundred
and twenty rank and file had been killed; sixty-eight officers and six
hundred and thirty-five rank and file had been wounded; twenty-nine
men were missing; total, eight hundred and sixty-two, of whom
almost a tenth were officers. The loss to the army since it had
marched out of Puebla was three hundred and eighty-three officers,
two thousand, three hundred and twenty rank and file. Subtracting
the garrisons and rear guards, Old Fuss and Feathers had marched
into Mexico City with less than six thousand out of his ten thousand
with which he had left Puebla six weeks before.
And according to estimates, in the same time the Mexicans had
lost more than seven thousand killed and wounded, thirty-seven
hundred prisoners including thirteen generals, some twenty flags,
one hundred and thirty-two pieces of artillery, and twenty thousand
small arms.
So here the “gringo” army was.
Instead of permitting his men to pillage the city, General Scott
levied a money contribution upon it of one hundred and fifty
thousand dollars, for the support of the troops. Adjutant Mackall read
to the First Division, paraded to listen, the following orders:
“Well, boy,” said Hannibal, when he and Jerry got together after
dismissal, “you heard those orders. Maybe the war’s not ended for
General Scott, but it’s ended for me. I want to rest up.”
“It’s ended for Pompey, too, all right,” Jerry added. “He’s still crying
about Lieutenant Smith. Says he’s lost his ‘offercer,’ and he wants to
go home.”
“Yes,” Hannibal mused. “And the war’s been ended for Lieutenant
Smith and a lot of good men before him. That’s the way. War costs.”
End
Transcriber’s Notes:
Except for the frontispiece, illustrations have been moved to follow the text
that they illustrate, so the page number of the illustration may not match the
page number in the Illustrations.
Obvious printer’s, punctuation and spelling inaccuracies were silently
corrected.
Archaic and variable spelling has been preserved.
Variations in hyphenation and compound words have been preserved.
*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK INTO MEXICO
WITH GENERAL SCOTT ***
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